Georgianna A. Rumbley (January 1, 1852 – July 3, 1894) was a 19th-century medical doctor, and one of 115 Black women licensed to practice medicine in the United States; the number would decline significantly into the 20th century.[1]
Georgianna A. Rumbley M.D. | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 1, 1852 Richmond, Virginia |
| Died | July 3, 1894 (aged 42) Washington, DC |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Howard University |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Known for | 19th-century African-American physician |
Career
editShe graduated from the Howard University normal and musical departments, attending from 1870 to 1874.[2] She married John Richard Bailey in 1872. There is no record of his death, but Lamb listed her as a widow.[2] She then attended the Howard University Medical College (now the College of Medicine) from 1877 to 1879, and again 12 years later from 1891 to 1894. She graduated with an M.D.[3] Rumbley died of diabetes on July 3, 1894, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The executor of her will was Howell L. Goins, who is mentioned in a letter to Booker T. Washington as a person he would have known.[4][5]
Records of her are scant, but she may be the "Georgiana" Rumbley who is listed as a teacher in Cedar Grove, North Carolina in 1868, when she would have been 16.[6] The records show that she had not arrived by the time of the listing, so she may not have gone at all. That same year she is also listed with the two-n spelling as a teacher in Hillsborough, North Carolina, eight miles away, with no record of her having gone in person.[7] Her name is occasionally spelled Georgiana with one "n" in newspapers as well, although it was listed with two in her graduation documents.[5]
References
edit- ^ Gamble, Vanessa Northington (2005). "Physicians". Black Women in America (2nd ed.). New York, London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195371307.
- ^ a b Lamb, Daniel Smith (1900). Howard University Medical Department, Washington, DC: A Historical, Biographical and Statistical Souvenir. Washington, DC: Beresford. p. 212.
- ^ Howard University (1869). Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Howard University, District of Columbia, 1868-'69. Washington, DC: Judd & Detweiler. p. 8.
- ^ Harlan, Louis R.; Kaufman, Stuart B.; Smock, Raymond W., eds. (1974). The Booker T. Washington Papers, Volume 3, 1889-95. University of Illinois Press. p. 6.
- ^ a b "Record of the Courts". The Washington Times. July 24, 1894. p. 2.
- ^ Smithsonian Transcription Center. "Records of the Field Offices for the State of North Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872". The Center for Public Integrity, Freedmen Search.
- ^ "Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of North Carolina Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1870, Reports of Persons and Articles Hired, Bound Reports (31)". National Museum of African American History and Culture.